Vicariance across major marine biogeographic barriers: temporal concordance and the relative intensity of hard versus soft barriers

The marine tropics contain five major biogeographic regions (East Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA) and Central Pacific). These regions are separated by both hard and soft barriers. Reconstructing ancestral vicariance, we evaluate the extent of temporal concordance in vicariance events across three major barriers (Terminal Tethyan Event (TTE), Isthmus of Panama (IOP), East Pacific Barrier, EPB) and two incomplete barriers (either side of the IAA) for the Labridae, Pomacentridae and Chaetodontidae. We found a marked lack of temporal congruence within and among the three fish families in vicariance events associated with the EPB, TTE and IOP. Vicariance across hard barriers separating the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific (TTE, IOP) is temporally diffuse, with many vicariance events preceding barrier formation. In marked contrast, soft barriers either side of the IAA hotspot support tightly concordant vicariance events (2.5 Myr on Indian Ocean side; 6 Myr on Central Pacific side). Temporal concordance in vicariance points to large-scale temporally restricted gene flow during the Late Miocene and Pliocene. Despite different and often complex histories, both hard and soft barriers have comparably strong effects on the evolution of coral reef taxa.     

An analytical model for the ergometer rowing: inverse multibody dynamics analysis

A model for the ergometer rowing exercise is presented in this paper. From the quantitative observations of a particular trajectory (motion), the model is used to determine the moment of the forces produced by the muscles about each joint. These forces are evaluated according to the continuous system of equations of motion. An inverse dynamics analysis is performed in order to predict the joint torques developed by the muscles during the execution of the task. An elementary multibody mechanical system is used as an example to discuss the assumptions and procedures adopted.     

Optimal trait scoring for age estimation

What are the effects that genetics has had on Anthropological research and how can we think anthropologically about Genetics? Just as genetic data have encouraged new hypotheses about human phenotypic variation, evolutionary history, population interaction, and environmental effects, so too has Anthropology offered to genetic studies a new interpretive locus in its history and perspective. This introduction examines how the fields of Anthropology and Genetics have arrived at a crucial moment at which their interaction requires careful examination and critical reflection. The papers discussed here exemplify how we may engage in such a trans-disciplinary conversation. They speak to the future of thoughtful interaction between genetic and anthropological literature and seek a new integration that embodies the holism of the human biological sciences.     

Issues of cost and efficiency in the design of reliability studies

Reliability of continuous and dichotomous responses is usually assessed by means of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). We derive the optimal allocation of the number of subjects k and the number of repeated measurements n that minimize the variance of the estimated ICC. Cost constraints are discussed for the case of normally distributed responses. Tables showing optimal choices of k and n are given, along with guidelines for the design of reliability studies in light of our results and those reported by others.     

研究SIR传染病数学模型的Lagrange-Noether方法

应用分析力学的方法讨论了SIR传染病数学模型方程,得到了与其对应的Lagrange函数和Noether守恒量,并根据Noether守恒量具体探讨了对感染病者和易感染病者人群的隔离率与患病者人数最大值的关系.     

具有约束条件的变分不等式的可行的增广拉格朗日方法

采用增广拉格朗日方法求解了具有约束条件的变分不等式问题,并证明了这一方法的全局收敛性．运用增广拉格朗日方法和非精确的半光滑牛顿法求解了具有约束条件的变分不等式的一类子问题．我们给出了四个数值算例以说明这一方法的可行性．